National Safety Award renamed to honor former NACBE Executive Director

THE GREAT LAKES Section took top honors for the first time ever, when Local 105 (Piketon, Ohio) was named winner of the National Safety Award — now known as the John F. Erickson NACBE Award — during the Construction Sector Operations conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, March 4-8.

“I’m very proud of [the membership] and what they’ve achieved,” said L-105 Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer Scott Hammond, who accepted the award. “We stress the importance of safety at every monthly meeting. We want everyone to go home from work just like they came to work. This also means that contractors will look at L-105 and see what we have to offer.”

“This honor is the result of hard work among everyone in Local 105, their vigilance and their attention to detail,” added Larry McManamon, International Vice-President of the Great Lakes Section. “I could not be prouder of Business Manager Hammond and every member of the lodge.”

The National Association of Construction Boilermaker Employers (NACBE) annually recognizes local lodges that exemplify safety, naming one nationwide winner and one winner from each of the remaining U.S. sections. The safety awards are determined by the lowest injury rates followed by the highest percentage of Boilermaker man-hours from NACBE contractors participating in the NACBE safety index. The new award name honors former NACBE Executive Director John F. Erickson, who retired last summer.

In addition to L-105’s nationwide win, the three lodges selected for top safety in their sections included Northeast Local 5, Zone 175 (Oswego, New York), accepted by Local 5 BM-ST Steve Ludwigson; Southeast Local 69 (Little Rock, Arkansas), accepted by BM-ST Rodney Allison; and Western States Local 11 (Helena, Montana), accepted on behalf of BM-ST Clinton Penny by IR Tim Ruth.

Two additional index measurements showed slight change, with the lost-time rate inching up in 2017 to .22, up from .21 in 2016, and 12 locals recording zero compensable injuries for 2017, down from 14 recorded in 2016.

“We would like to learn from [the locals that recorded zero compensable injuries] what you’re doing differently so we can do the same. We’ve done pretty well, but it’s still not good enough,” said Traxler, noting that 2017 saw two fatalities, both occurring on the same job site. “We have to be our brothers’ keepers. We have to watch out for each other and the people working around us.”

For more information on NACBE and the safety index, visit www.nacbe.com.